Thirty Hours into the night and the Unseen is nowhere to be found.
Irritated, Vospan, pacing back and forth trying to convince himself the upstart would come very soon as everything regarding him had been quiet lately and the upstart for all reasoning seem to have turtled up.
"Sit down... Concentrate and Meditate..." A voice sounded behind him.
Without turning back, he sat down and started meditating in earnest as he realized his condition has not been normal.
Behind him were another man, blond hair and brown eyes but with a starking resemblance to Vospan. His body seems to generate incredible might that would shock an average person to submission.
This was the might of a Nascent Soul expert, and even this is not common amongst Nascent Souls.
This is the Azure Mountain City Lord, Desnix Atariel.
Sitting down and making himself tea, he waits for his son to come together and he was not made to wait long as Vospan woke up from his meditation a few minutes later, looking calmer now.
"How was it?" His son asked as soon as he opened his eyes.
Throwing a book on the table, the book given by Ardian, "I can't figure out the seal. He's good."
"So we have to flush the upstart out?" Vospan replied to his father.
"Have you ever thought about why he is coming for you?"
"Isn't he just a lunatic?"
"You believe that?"
"..."
"Indeed, we need to end him thoroughly, we might have a vendetta with him."
"Yes... We need to root him out for another reason now. If he can't kill me, he escapes and ruins my reputation."
"He has evidence that even a commoner would agree with. He's not just a brainless 'Upstart', we need to end him tonight."
BOOOOMMM!!!
An explosion was let out in the distance and a huge manor went up in flames.
"The Lynxes? Did he appear?" Vospan was agitated as he heard the explosions. The Upstart is appearing.
"Yes, he appeared but stay put." His father shuts down the idea of him going to confront the upstart.
"A diversion most likely, but he's appeared stay put, play along and let's see where he gets the confidence to confront a Nascent Soul."
"The leaders of the lynxes have an innate physique, he should be able to bring out his trumps."
With that, Vospan and Desnix started laying traps they have prepared to force the upstart to do something amazing.
...
While the city ruler's family were speculating this being a distraction, Unseen was crouching in the shadows of the destruction of numerous buildings, his position is flanked by three elders and numerous warriors were strewn across the floor haphazardly creating a dreary scene.
'I have a few moments of rest, these guys are here to keep me still till reinforcements arrive.'
'I need to break the stalemate.'
'Ah... It seems like I would be losing my energy cultivation base.'
/Hmph... What you were meant to lose was not yours, to begin with. I still don't understand why you fuss about the traditional methods./
/True... I don't know what Eldest sees in you./
'Can't you two let me focus?'
/Youngest... he needs to focus on weaklings./
/How dare you call me the youngest... Bam! Bam bang/
/...ouch... what are you doing?... Do you want to bring our deaths forward? fine!/
/...ouch... how dare you hit a lady... ow dammit../
'How did this happen?'
Twisting the rings, the lights on it became dim and the voices became distant.
Gathering his focus, he starts purging all the energy in his meridians and dantian as he pushes it outside his body. This exercise brought immense pain to him as his foundations began to crack and his meridians began tearing causing a momentarily slip in focus which he quickly gained back. The energy coming out of his body forms a silhouette looking like him except this is not blindfolded. Taking out many explosive talismans he attaches them to the silhouette.
At his command, the silhouette charges to the two farthest from him, leaving the one near.
"He's coming!"
"Kite him!"
The two elders reacted accordingly, one moving to slow it down while the other moved to punish the recklessness shown. Unfortunately for them, what they focused on wasn't the real target just a diversion.
"Watch OUT!!!"
The elder nearest to Unseen was the one to figure out the trap but it was too late, for both him and them. The silhouette exploded causing whatever damage was done to the surroundings before to multiply as another massive explosion went off in front of the elder supposed to block the silhouette.
The elder nearest to Unseen was also unable to realize the consequences quick enough as a hand was sticking out of his abdomen gripping his core in between.
Mournful screams were let out by both elders as they were incapacitated by Unseen before they could achieve their job of stalling.
Unseen, without an iota of energy, had to run with his physique escaping the manor before the other core formation in the clan stabilized the condition of his wife and son. The last elder, the farthest one, screamed,
"BASTARD!!!"
Chasing after the Unseen who is running like a mortal with a superb speed that will make core formation experts find it difficult to catch up. While the lynches were a clan focused on speed as their forte, the elder was also injured by the explosion, with his hands dangling as he chases the Unseen, not to catch him but to make him unable to escape his trail.
Unfortunately, the Unseen seemed to disappear into thin air as he continues to chase after him, causing him to lose track of Unseen.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!
A mournful howl of frustration resounded throughout the city at night causing nightmares to those sleeping at night, chilling everyone, including the reinforcements coming to help.
While everyone could feel the resentment, pain and anguish in the scream.
Back at the collapsed manor, a man, middle-aged with a feral aura could be seen sitting on one of the blocks that collapsed from the building. Sweat on his brows, seemingly struggling against something as he heard the scream, causing his face to become pale and more signs of intense struggle could be seen on his face as blood was dripping from his lips.
His eyes crazed as his aura became increasingly berserk but the unknown force he was struggling against seemed to triumph against him as a fountain of blood sprayed out of his mouth and another soundless howl made its way out of his mouth before falling unconscious.
...
At another manor, a youth could be seen standing in front of a throne as he looks at the ones kneeling beneath him before saying coldly:
"The treasury is empty?"
"T-this... O-only ttt-the earth and heaven tier treasures are m-missing." As soon as the messenger stuttered that out, his head blew up, spraying blood all over the hall. The elders kneeling further prostrated their heads on the floor not daring to say anything.
"Have you uncovered all the explosive talismans?", the youth asked again.
"Yes. Clan leader." The elders answered in unison.
"Then, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?"
"GET HIM, BRING HIS HEAD HERE BUT DON'T FORGET TO BRIN-" The youth raised his voice at them about to order them to bring Unseen's head but he suddenly froze up with a grave expression.
Suddenly, he started chanting a Daoist scripture, making different hand signs, confusing the elders kneeling beneath him.
After a while, he stopped his actions before keeling and coughing out some amounts of blood, looking at the confused and concerned elders.
"Leader!!!" All were startled.
"Call back all of our people, the first-order command from me: 'All must return and all must sleep till daybreak.'" His voice was hoarse as he promptly coughed out another mouthful of blood.
Gasp!!!
The elders were shocked, they knew whatever happened just now was a serious matter that they cannot afford to interfere in as a small clan. Swiftly, they left the hall to carry out their assignments.
Alone in the hall, the clan leader coughed another mouthful of blood again with a grim face.
It seems the world would get rowdy very soon, whatever happens, tonight we must not interfere.
...
...
In another manor, a portly elderly man was also looking at the centre of the city with a grim expression and with a wave, a youth manifested behind him and with a smile, he turned to face the youth.
"Have all our agents go incognito, the first to get me his identity can spar against my daughter."
With that, he moved towards the door of the study, "Have all regulars return. Dismissed."
The room fell into darkness once more.
...
...
COUGH COUGH COUGH
"Father!!!" Vospan rushed towards his father's side with confusion written all over his face. His father was meditating one moment and now he was coughing out blood.
WHEEZ WHEEZ WHEEZ!!!
Taking quick breaths, Desnix tried to stabilize himself but suddenly went limp."FATHER!!!"
"He's something alright~~"
"WHO? WHO ARE YOU?"
"I? I'm the caretaker for an almost dead boy, we promised not to allow the interference of nascent." A mocking voice sounded from all corners of the room.
"WHY?" Vospan said loudly, calming down a bit. "WHY ME?"
"Why??... you're a very bad boy. You hurt the little boy." An alluring feminine voice replied creating a sharp contrast to the masculine voice earlier. Vospan's expression changed drastically when he heard the reply, this is one of his most dreaded scenarios coming to haunt him.
He'd committed many atrocities and he dreads the day they come to light and destroys the reputation he spent so much time building. Much more than that is an individual bent on seeking vengeance upon him who seems to have the tools at his disposal to seek such vengeance.
"Oh... Have you realized what's at stake now? You can use any tool in your manor as long as you survive till dawn or kill the little boy."
"Yeah~~ Yeah... The little boy only has until that period to complete his job."
"Don't bother about your father as well, he should wake at dawn. Focus on surviving."
The masculine and feminine voices gave information one after the other causing Vospan's heart to chill information after information.
"Hehehehe..."
"Hehehehe..."
Laughters echoed in the room causing an extremely unsettling atmosphere until they faded leaving Vospan bare in the room holding onto his father with his golden pupils shining with humiliation, anger and fear.